Ecosocialist Bookshelf is hosted by Ian Angus. Books described here may be reviewed at length in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement, or that C&C agrees with everything (or even anything!) it says. Climate & Capitalism has received review copies of some of these books, but we do not receive any payment for reviews or for reader purchases.
First, an apology: I’ve been working flat out on my next book—Social Murder: Capitalism’s Assault on Human Health in the Anthropocene—so this the first Ecosocialist Bookshelf since July. I will try not to miss any more.
Second, an explanation: Usually I include titles on a variety of subjects in science, politics, theory, history etc. But recently my shelf has been crowded with new books on the rise and nature of the radical right, so I am introducing eight of them at once. I’ll return to the normal mix next month.
Naomi Klein and Astrid Taylor
END TIMES FASCISM
and the Fight for the Living World
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
A new iteration of the far right is on the march. Klein and Taylor explore the alliance of religious fundamentalists, Silicon Valley technologists, and ethno-nationalists that aims to make the world unlivable while protecting themselves from the consequences by hiding on luxurious private islands, rocketing to Mars, or deploying massive military force to keep the bad people out.
Don Kalb and Walden Bello, editors
BACKLASH
The Global Rise of the Radical Right
Pluto Press
We live in an age of counterrevolution. Liberal elites around the world are weaponising their fascistic narratives, creating political enemies and consolidating even more power and wealth. This collection of essays from leading researchers reveals new forms of the radical right, neo-nationalism, authoritarian neoliberalism, illiberalism and democratic backsliding.
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff
MUSKISM
A Guide for the Perplexed
Harper Collins
Elon Musk promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. Slobodian and Tarnoff cut through the hype to reveal what Musk really represents: a new political economy, where to be “free” means to serve a Technoking. Muskism isn’t about the man. It’s about the machine that made him—and the world he’s trying to make.
Kim Phillips-Klein
COUNTRY OF LORDS
Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America
WW Norton
American history is often told as a hard-won march toward the promise of equality, but there has always been a countertrend. Again and again, influential Americans have argued that the social, economic, and racial hierarchies in which some groups of people rule over others are not only natural but good.
Gil Durán
THE NERD REICH
Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy
Simon & Schuster
Durán explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men aim to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Donald F. Kettl
THE RIGHT-WING IDEA FACTORY
From Traditionalism to Trumpism
Oxford University Press
Kettl traces the rise of a revolutionary political force that has redefined the American right. Fueled by soft money and amplified by social media, a network of determined activists and organizations aims to dismantle traditional free-market conservatism and replace it with a populist agenda rooted in cultural and social issues.
Jacob Silverman
GILDED RAGE
Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley
Bloomsbury
An essential dispatch from the front lines of the billionaire revolution in which Musk is just the beginning. Silverman maps a sprawling network of radicalized elites — from Peter Thiel and JD Vance to the financiers bankrolling Donald Trump — who are using their power and their money to drive a political revolution.
A.J.A. Woods
THE CULTURAL MARXISM CONSPIRACY
Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West
Verso
“Cultural Marxism” is one of the far right’s favorite buzzwords. Wood uncovers the bizarre story of the cult leaders, right-wing intellectuals, and White House officials who believe a coterie of left-wing scholars and students is plotting to undermine Western civilization.
I can’t imagine a duller idea than reading these accounts of the rise of murderous idiots now in power. Anti-eco, anti-socialist, on the news every day – what could possibly be the point?
I appreciate your inclusion of her book, Country if Lords, but you have misspelled the author’s name: it’s Kim Phillips-Fein, not. Klein.